MADRID, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- Spain will join its European neighbors Sunday by outlawing smoking in indoor bars and restaurants.
The hotel and restaurant industry has warned the measure will cost tens of thousands of jobs, but the government says such laws in Britain, France and Italy did not hurt business in the long run, CNN reported.
Spain passed a workplace smoking ban four years ago, but it was voluntary for the country's 300,000 bars and restaurants, and most did not take part. This time there are to be no exceptions, as the government tries to cut an estimated 50,000 tobacco-linked deaths per year.
Juan Carlos Sanchez, who stops by a Madrid bar several times a day to have a cigarette with his coffee or beer, was not pleased.
"If I can't smoke here in the bar, maybe I'll come just once a day, or not at all. When I ask for a coffee or beer, but then have to smoke in the street, I don't understand," he said.
"Spaniards spend a lot of time in bars and will probably spend less time now," said bar owner Fernando Vazquez. "Instead of drinking three or four beers, they'll have one."
